We sailed up to the entrance of the Nakema River and were tied to a mooring by 9:30 this morning. Just under eleven days to be the 64th boat to check into Savusavu this year. Yay! We are exhausted but happy to be here. Walked to the Vodafone booth to get the Internet going and were greeted by the taxi driver from last year. It’s fun to come back to familiar places. More details after a good night’s sleep!

Charisma safely tied up at the dock in Savusavu

Position: 17 degrees, 43 minutes south; 179 degrees, 54 minutes west

Tomorrow at 1230 will be eleven days since we left Marsden Point, New Zealand.

We’re on the final home stretch down the Koro Sea. We came through the reefs in the southwest Lau last night and all of today have just been on a very broad reach with single reefed main only down the Koro Sea. We are keeping the speed at roughly 5.5 knots as that puts us at the entrance to the reef outside of Savusavu at daylight (more or less). Then another hour to the river and we can tie up to a mooring with our Q-Flag (quarantine) and wait for customs, immigration and health who all come out to visit to clear us in. Then…SHOWERS! And a shave. My beard is driving me nuts.

Today threatened rain. There’s a convergence zone over Fiji/Tonga and we expecteded a very rainy day. However with the exception of the early hours from sunrise through about 10AM or so, the clouds have lifted a bit – not clear and sunny mind you, but not raining – and it’s been a fairly nice day. About 18 knots of wind from behind and mild temp.

That’s it for now. We’re tired, a bit beat up and bruised from the waves bumping us around the boat and just looking forward to a nice dinner ashore and a full, uninterrupted night’s sleep.